


With Their Eyelids Shut

by voleuse



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-28
Updated: 2005-08-28
Packaged: 2017-10-04 10:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>They hide in pairs</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Their Eyelids Shut

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-series, no spoilers. Title and summary adapted from Craig Raine's _A Martian Sends a Postcard Home_.

She makes the first move when he doesn't expect it.

One minute, he's explaining the difference between a triceratops and a stegosaurus, not because she asked, but because he thinks it's important to know.

The next minute, she's straddling his chair, her tongue is in his mouth, and he thinks his heart might slam out of his chest from the shock.

Given that, he thinks he recovers quite nicely.

*

 

The second time, he's just thankful the first time wasn't the fluke.

*

 

The seventh time, she lets him press her against the ladder of his quarters.

He is, he thinks, the luckiest man in the entire 'verse.

It's only when she laughs against his neck that he realizes he said that out loud.

But he doesn't take it back.

*

 

The next time they touch down on Persephone, Zoe drags him off the ship with a smile on her face.

He figures they're going to resupply, so when she stops in front of an inn, he's confused.

She tosses a few bills to the clerk in the front, lets someone escort them to a swank room.

The door's barely closed before she's kicking her boots off, yanking her shirt over her head.

Wash stares at her.

She raises an eyebrow. "Now, Wash." She smiles.

And he realizes he's actually, really, truly in love with her.

*

 

He strokes her hair as she sleeps, and he wonders how long this can last.

He wants it to be forever.

She opens her eyes, and he tells her so.

*

 

A deal goes bad, and it's a hard burn before they break atmo.

When they're finally in the black, she rubs his neck. He sighs.

"You'll live like this?" she asks, and her voice is quiet.

"Like what?" he asks, because his skin is still buzzing from the retreat.

She doesn't speak for a minute. He watches her reflection in the glass.

"Always on the make," she explains. "Always running. Not many folks'll live like this, by choice."

It clicks, finally, and he spins his chair, faces her.

She's dead serious, and for once, he is, too.

"You chose it," he tells her. "So will I."

She stoops down to kiss him, and he feels it to his toes.

*

 

On their wedding night, they sit on their bed, in their new quarters.

She's kneeling on the mattress, and he faces her, sitting cross-legged.

"Does this feel weird to you?" he asks. "Being a missus, I mean. You don't seem like one."

She smiles, bright enough to make him gasp.

"Not weird at all," she replies, and clasps his hands in hers. "Nothing weird about it at all."

The funny thing is, that makes perfect sense.

So he closes his eyes and kisses her fingertips.

And when he opens his eyes again, the look on her face is proof for all their vows.


End file.
